评论
打印
If I've listened to you, I've declared every slave free the minute the first shell struck Fort Sumter.
如果听了你的 在萨穆特要塞战役 打响时就宣布奴隶解放
Then the border states would've gone over to the confederacy,the war would've been lost and the Union along with it,
那么边境州将投向叛军 我们将输掉战争 失去联盟
and instead of abolishing slavery,as we hope to do in two weeks,
不仅不能像我们预期那样 在两周内废除奴隶制
we'll be watching helpless as infants as it spread from the American South into South America.
我们将无助地看着 美国南部分裂出去
Oh God, how you have longed to say that to me.
你很渴望对我说这些吧
You claim you trust them.But you know what the people are.
你说你信任他们 可你知道人民是什么样子
You know that the inner compass that should direct the soul toward justice
在白人的心里本该引导他们的灵魂 通往正义的罗盘
has ossified in white men and women, north and south, unto utter uselessness through tolerating the evil of slavery
已经被邪恶的奴隶制 僵化得毫无用处了
White people cannot bear the thought of sharing this country's infinite abundance with Negroes.
白人不能容忍 与黑人共享这个国家无尽财富的想法
A compass, I learnt when I was surveying,It'll point you True North from where you're standing,
我在外勘测时发现关于罗盘 它会为你指出正北的方向
but it'll got no advice about the swamps and deserts and chasms that you'll encounter along the way.
却不会指出沿途会遇到的 沼泽 沙漠和深坑
If in pursuit of your destination,you plunge ahead, heedless of obstacles,
如果在追寻目标的途中 你一往无前 不留心障碍困难
and achieve nothing more than to sink in a swamp.
除了陷入沼泽哪里也到不了
What's the use of knowing True North?
那么知道正北又有什么用
